Black Kettle Campground

We spent a lovely three nights here, we were the only ones camping although a huge family did come and have a sprawling Easter picnic on one of the days. Camping area is pretty bootleg but has everything you need, just watch out for mice and ticks. I was thrilled to find somewhere so quiet that had pit toilets and water and walking trails, and our dogs were happy about a campsite where no one else was around.

This spot is a hidden gem! Very quiet and peaceful. There were a few other people there the night we stayed but definitely still plenty of room to spread out from one another and still have your own private space. We originally planned to stay at spring creek but we got there late in the evening and all the spots had already been claimed. To be fair there was only 3 spots so not many to choose from but would have definitely preferred to stay at the one. But either options are excellent choices!

We van life and stayed here for 5 days and it was magical! Quiet and peaceful the entire stay. Only one other camper besides myself and my boyfriend. Max stay is 14 days. Great, scenic picnic tables right by the lake, lots of space for tents, vault toilets (no showers) and totally free! Enjoy!

I had a great time here. I spent 4 days hiking the area during the day. At night, the sky seemed to rip open above. Great place to stargaze.

The map and recreation area/campground is actually Dead Water Lake. Is you turn to the left after entering, you'll get a lot with parking barriers so only tent camping. Go straight and you'll find plenty of spots to park for a pop-up or RV. It's very peaceful and beautiful. The crickets and an occasional bullfrog will sing you to sleep.

Beautiful grassy location right by a fish stocked lake. There are wells around the area that you can use for free. There are also vault toilets around. Can stay 2 weeks.

I got to the campsite very late, but was surprised by how nice it was when I woke up. There are bathrooms and plenty of picnic tables. It was a clean campsite with no trash. There is a little hike there that leads you through wetlands, forrest, and pasture.

We were the only ones to stay here for the night. A very beautiful place. Came in at night and just parked and set up tents where we could. You could see lots of stars at night and there was little sound of traffic. Very clean, and had bathrooms and trash cans as well. Colors of the land are very nice as well. In the Morning a park worker came in around 1030 to clean the bathrooms and change trash. I also explored a little more and found a lake over the hill. Easy park to access, roads are good to get to it. Good service with Verizon as well

FCFS 

FREE 

The grass along the entrance is mowed and looks great with the back drop of the Oklahoma grassland. The road in is paved and also in the campground. You will find a picnic table, fire ring, pedestal grill, trash, pit toilet. Nice mature trees that offer a lot of shade. Large parking area where you can park an RV or grassy area for a tent. I think this would fill up quick during the hunting season. Nice small lake or large pond however you look at it. Looks great for fishing. 

Verizon 

LNT 

Clean, Drain, Dry AIS 

Travel safe

Decided to head here for a solo camping trip, it did not disappoint I will say the think to be aware of currently is the Canadian goose population, they can be a hair aggressive when they have younglings.

When driving through this section of Oklahoma I was pleasantly surprised to have found this FREE campsite.    The area looks pretty flat with only rolling hills then you take a turn and the land really opens up here with the lake and the views are quite impressive for this region.

I stopped in on a very windy day and the water was to choppy to have been any good for recreation despite having a fishing pier and boat ramp.    It was even a bit strong to enjoy exploring the trail that was on the far side of camp.    I checked out the upper area of the grounds near the day use area and tent camping area then made my way to the pull in sites located a bit before the main lake area, these were much more sheltered from the winds and pleasant.  

Each site had access to picnic tables, fire rings and lantern hooks in this area although the layout itself was still very reminiscent of a tent site with parking then open spaces for placement.  You couldn't pull in next to the tables.  Parking varied with some places appearing much more level than others. 

The red dirt of Oklahoma transfers everywhere I will say that, so if you are visiting when it is muddy, be prepared to be tracking it inside your rig or your tent.   It does stain so keep that in mind!  

For me this ended up being a great place to enjoy a night in the quiet, no noise and very few people in the day use or camp area.    It was well maintained, the restrooms were clean vault toilets and I noticed that there were a few centrally located trash cans available.

On a Friday night, we were the only folks camping at Skipout Lake. It was beautiful weather. This shelterbelt definitely saved us from some high winds. If you can mind the fire ants and pick up a few pieces of trash, this place is a gem. Wonderful trail, first class dock to fish from, beautiful wildflowers, potable water, vault toilet, boat ramp.

We stayed here for one night in a cross country camping road trip. There seem to be two places to camp- one is on a small loop on the left after you enter the property and the other is if you continue straight instead of turning left there are spots by the lake. When we were there there were signs saying “for day use only” by the lake so we stayed in the first loop to the left. This loop had around 6 camping sites and one group site. (By the lake has around 6 sites dispersed.) This review is based off of staying in the first loop. Both had vault toilets and a dumpster. I did not see any water. There was no view of the lake from the first loop but there were stairs up to the top which was a nice view. Agree with a previous reviewer that they should change the name on the plaque. When we were there we were the only campers in either area.

Pros: isolated, free, there are trees surrounding the small loop that keep you protected.

Cons: you can hear trucks going by on the main road, the vault toilets were super ripe, almost all sites were on an incline, there were flies (although not an excessive amount), if it was busy there wouldn’t be much privacy between sites (the area is surrounded by trees and a hill but there were many trees between sites), there was a small amount of trash from previous campers.

Fine for staying one night.

We stopped here to stay overnight while traveling through. It was a cute, out of the way spot. It was a very hot (99 degrees October 11th) and very windy late afternoon. There were tons of flies. The picnic table had animal droppings. As we car camp, we felt we would not be comfortable given the conditions. We decided to relocate.

We went to the furthest site on the paved road that had two picnic tables available on site. This site was clean but the adjacent sites had lots of garbage left behind including burned bean cans. Still a great site and very close to the water. Listened to fish jump out of the water most of the night which was wonderful.

Plenty of deadfalls for firewood and the fire pits were fine to use. Very quite all night and hardly any traffic. The road leads right to each site with just a short few yards of a walk to the actual tables and fire pit.

Free public bathrooms available that seemed a bit unkept but smelled nice. All in all a great quiet night, wonderful wildlife sounds and plenty of dry wood for roasting hotdogs!

Only stayed a night but arrived around 6pm on a Friday and only one other camper was there. Ended up being about 4 spots used by the end of the evening but was spacious enough to feel apart from everyone. Toilets were cleaned and pretty quiet stay. I have AT&T and had good reception. Not every spot has a fire ring but I’d say about half do. Some have little fire stoves instead of rings. Would definitely come back!

Listen, it's a day use area that you just so happen to be allowed to camp in. Its free. There's water and a pit toilet. The lake is pretty. Not going to do better for free and in this stretch of country.

I stayed here for one night with my dog. Beautiful area, loved the view, could definitely hear the nearby road traffic continuously but didn't bother me. Campsites are open so you can see other campers, but only one other person came by while I was there. There are maybe 10 campsites to choose from, all with fire pits and picnic benches. There are two red water pumps with potable/drinking water, but they are set back from the parking lot so you have to carry your water containers back(in my case, heavy water containers while walking uphill). Still, it was great to refill on water. There were also logs and branches stacked up from a downed tree, and someone had laid a fire at my campsite's fire pit. Note that there are different-sized fire pits based on your campsite. There is also a cluster of four picnic tables towards the back of the campground if you have a bigger group. And there are two or three small trails that connect to the campsite, although I didn't go on them. 

Take the first left after you enter the recreation area to get to the campground, if you continue straight you will get to the boat launch and the daytime picnic area that has signs saying"day use only."

According to the internet, there was more than one campground here but I did not find that to be the case. There was only one area that looked like it might be a campground but there was no sign anywhere with the name of the alleged campground. 

I camped where another man had set up his tent. There were relatively clean vault toilets and some picnic tables. You could hear the road from this campground.

Free campground

Got to this site around 1 am and set up for the night. It was clear and dark enough to see the Milky Way. I slept out in the open and fell asleep looking at the stars. Mosquitos didn't show up at all despite it being late May. No running water to be seen but the pit toilets were reasonably sanitary and there is the pond (or is it a lake?) on site. Only one other cper was there. This is BLM so it is free. One of my favorite camp sites, and I camp a lot. Picnic tables, burn pits, trash receptacles on site. Fishing piers, and the water can be approached from several different areas.

There is fascinating and touching history here and I highly recommend a visit to the Black Kettle Grasslands as well as the Washita Visitor Center. It was my favorite park visitor center of the 32 I've been to in the last 6 months.